5 Killer Sources for Figuring What Your House is Worth

Tweet

This week we’re taking a look at the National Association of Realtors’ sweeping statistical correction. If you can’t trust the NAR’s statistics on home sales, who can you trust?

Plenty of folks.

• First, mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spin off bushels of statistics from their mortgage databases. They even offer a handy home-price calculator by metropolitan market (more than 300 of ‘em!) so you can see how your home value has changed. (This provides a useful tool for pricing your home and defending that price with appraisers and to buyers when negotiating.)  
• Second, mortgage-processing giant FNC also lists home-price data.  
• The Case-Shiller index tracks the monthly change in home values for 20 major metro areas.  
• Local property records – available through your county recorder of deeds or property records office – contain nuggest of data about what neighboring houses sold for, that provide context for the value of your own home. In fact, some real estate economists recommended that property records become the NAR’s ongoing source for its data.  
• It’s smart to take even local agent-generated results with a grain of salt. Last summer, an Illinois multiple listing service was caught with sloppy numbers.

Your best bet: rely on numbers from government and industry analyst sources. Key links are in the ForSaleByOwner.com Pricing Guide.